frolic

December 13, 2016

Cruise Day 4 - Montego Bay

We had the BEST weather all week on this cruise.

After 2 amazing sea days, we arrived at Montego Bay, Jamaica. I have never been here before so I was excited to see some new things. We booked an excursion for a Jeep ride and hidden waterfall tour. I wasn't sure what to expect but we really enjoyed it. I wish it had been a little longer but we had plenty of time to get back on the ship and hit up the waterslides (well, I was the only one in our group that did but it was fun!).

We had the BEST tour guide named Earl. He was a local and had never been off the island. He was so passionate about his home and wanted everyone to know all about it. We did get to see some rather poor areas of Jamaica though.

This was the view when we docked. Not too bad.

I will say this. It's HOT there. Felt like about June in Mississippi. And that's year round. But it's beautiful!

We met Earl and started our excursion.

First, he took us to the ritzy neighborhood on the top of the island. The views were out of this world.

After that, we rode through some of the poorer parts of Montego Bay. We went to this old church.

The base of this tree is used as a shelter when hurricanes and other storms come. Crazy.

This is a school just below the church. You could see the kids all playing outside. Their education system is pretty good there, if you can get into the private schools.

They open these windows for ventilation. I can't imagine.

The next leg of the trip was interesting. Earl drove us down some rough terrain toward what they call "butt crack mountain." If you look at it from far away, it looks like a heart but they say guests keep saying it looks like a butt crack.

Earl would stop along the way and tell us more history about the island.

In this overgrown stuff, something important happened but I don't remember what. I'm terrible at remembering anything historical.

After a fun yet bumpy ride, we arrived at the hidden water fall. There is a pretty famous waterfall in Jamaica called Dunns River Falls. I wanted to go there but the hubby did not. He said everyone would be there. Which might be true but I'll never know.

However, this hidden waterfall was pretty amazing. It was much smaller than what I've seen of Dunns River Falls. The water was COLD. So very refreshing.

I brought my swimsuit but no one else in our group brought theirs so I didn't put mine on. I kind of wish I had once I stepped off into that cold water. It felt sooo good after being all hot and sweaty.

PS - I didn't know hubby was taking this pic. Or I would have looked at him and smiled.

After the hidden waterfall and an orange to eat, we headed back toward the place we were eating. They had a little gift shop and jerk chicken to eat.

They have some of the largest bamboo in the world here. Some were over 100 feet tall. And the stalks were pretty thick too.

Earl also showed us some more places along the way. This one used to be a bank. Well, it was a house and they owner started a bank beside his house. I think.

This was the view we had while we ate lunch.

Riding through the streets of Jamaica in the back of the Jeep. They are terrible, crazy drivers there.

The view on the way back to the boat.

Hubby met a friend on the way back on the ship. We had to check our pockets to make sure our 'friend' didn't slip us something! I bought a Christmas present here for a co-worker and was given some $2 bills. We gave this guy one of them.

Since we got back on the ship pretty early and a lot were still off, I decided it was time to try the water slides. Plus, I was HOT. Nobody wanted to do them with me. So I found some kids and asked them about which was their favorite. And I went down them both and had a blast. And got cooled off. So then I continued on to my favorite reading spot, in the sun.

We were out on the top decks when we left, which is one of my favorite things to do. You can watch the guy that comes on board to help park the boat, jump off onto a small boat to whisk him away. Plus, it's just amazing to watch that HUGE boat navigate some of those small spaces.

After we departed, we came back and showered and got ready for dinner.

More singing and dancing!

Then we went to the nightly show and then to the Comedy show. We had a great time and I was kind of tired after all that heat and sun.

Day 5 is Grand Cayman, my absolute most favorite day of the entire cruise!